George Lucas Is Not Involved with INDIANA JONES 5, and More Movie News

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The Man with the Hat is coming back, but one of the men behind him is not! Yes, we’ve got the latest on the upcoming fifth Indiana Jones film in today’s Movie Morsels, as well as a whopping four new Doctor Strange videos, news on the extended cut of Suicide Squad, and a helluva lot more for your enjoyment…

Indiana Jones 5

No matter how good or bad the next movie featuring the world’s most famous fictional archaeologist turns out to be, it’s sure to feel a bit different for one key reason. For the first time in the character’s big-screen career we won’t have George Lucas to praise or blame for it. Although every Indy film to date has begun with a story idea from Lucas, screenwriter David Koepp says the creator has not had a hand in the franchise’s fifth installment thus far. “He’s not, to my knowledge,” says Koepp, in a new interview with Collider. “I’ve had no contact with him.”

The Crystal Skull scribe explains how the lessons he learned from the last Indiana Jones movie will impact this next epic…

“I think that what [Indy] looks for and when he looks for it dictates what the movie’s gonna be. So the selection of the MacGuffin is everything. I think Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, being set in 1957 there was a conscious desire to say, ‘Much like two of the other ones were World War II movies set in the ’30s and early ’40s, this is ’57 so a lot of our influences are gonna be science-fiction movies.’ You got that with the original [script], Jeb Stuart took the first shot at it with Indiana Jones and the Saucer Men from Mars.”

Of the fifth film’s story, Koepp says, “I’m deeply immersed as we speak. All I can say is that there’s lots of aliens and Indy dies at the end [laughs]. Lots of hiding in lead-lined refrigerators, aliens, and he dies. Should go over very well.”

We have less than two weeks to go before Stephen Strange begins his journey toward becoming Earth’s Sorcerer Supreme! If you can’t get enough of that bearded Benedict Cumberbatch in his sweet red cloak, then feast your eyes on four new TV spots for Marvel Studios’ first film foray into the world of the supernatural. Excelsior!

Whether or not an extended cut of Suicide Squad will turn out better or worse than the theatrical version, we at least now have the official running time for said cut when it lands on Blu-ray on December 13th. Fans can look forward to a movie that runs 134 minutes—a full 11 minutes longer than the theatrical cut’s 123 minutes. Expect much of this new footage to showcase more of Harley Quinn’s origin sequence. The Blu-ray will also offer a bevy of bonus features, including, per its press release…

Task Force X: One Team, One Mission – Discover the rich legacy of DC’s most infamous bad guys
Squad Strength and Skills – How’d they whip themselves into shape? Get the inside story
Joker and Harley: The ‘It’ Couple of the Underworld – She’s rotten. He’s damaged. They’re a match made in hell
Chasing the Real – Writer/director David Ayer reveals techniques for creating an authentic surreal world
Plus Gag Reel and More!

And speaking of Harley Quinn, it looks like actress Margot Robbie (pictured above in The Wolf of Wall Street) will co-star in the live-action/animation hybrid adaptation of Beatrix Potter’s Peter Rabbit. The Will Gluck-directed children’s fantasy film already has James Corden, Rose Byrne, Domhnall Gleeson, Daisy Ridley, and Elizabeth Debicki lined up for live-action and voice roles, and Robbie is expected to voice an as-yet-unidentified rabbit. Anyone want to opine which of Potter’s bunnies she’s best suited to portray?

Finally today… Since I wasn’t much of a fan of Neill Blomkamp’s Elysium or Chappie, I’m quite confident in calling his new BMW ad/short film The Escape (which finds Clive Owen returning to his role as the mysterious “Driver”) the best thing the director’s done since District 9. Your mileage, of course, may vary. But you can watch the film now since it’s just arrived online…